§ 64. Mr. Strangasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the latest proposals for progress on a comprehensive test ban treaty before the third review conference of the non-proliferation treaty.
§ Mr. LuceOur position on a comprehensive test ban was explained in my speech in the adjournment debate on 7 June at columns 619–23. We firmly believe that progress on negotiation of such a treaty cannot be made until key technical problems, including those of verification and compliance, are resolved. We believe these should be discussed by the Geneva Conference on Disarmament, where we tabled on 12 July a new paper on seismic monitoring of a comprehensive test ban.